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 THE KAROON RIVER. 445 he put one of the pistols to his head, and firing it made an end of his life. As if this occurrence were not sufficiently deplorable, it was followed three days later by another of a similar nature. Commodore Ethersey, who had succeeded Sir Henry Leeke in the command of the fleet, felt every day more and more his unfitness for the post he held. He frequently suffered from severe nervous attacks, and ex- pressed in his diary his conviction that he should " make a mess" of the projected naval attack on Mohamra. The day after that on which General Stalker's death occurred, he sought relief by taking opium ; but the dose he took was too large for the purpose of soothing him, and it excited him so much that on the next day he was reduced to imitating the melancholy example that had been set by General Stalker. The position of the point at which Sir J. Outram intended to attack the Persians, rendered it necessary that the preliminary operations should be performed by the naval portion of the expeditionary force. Mohamra is said to have owed its origin to Alexander the Great, who, to avoid the necessity of sailing down to the Persian Gulf by the ancient channel of the Karoon, caused the canal to be dug through which that stream now flows into the Tigris.* The town was originally called Alex- andria, and having been destroyed by an overflow of the river, it was rebuilt by Antiochus and called Antiochia. It was a second time overflooded, and on being restored was called Charax. The records concerning the position of this city give it a peculiar interest, as showing an instance of an oceanic delta gaining with almost unpre-
 * Travels and Researches in Clialdea and Susiana, by W. K. LOFTUS.